THE APPLE INVESTOR: Is iTunes Music Streaming Closer Than We Think?

AAPL Up In Weak MarketStocks are erasing early Wednesday losses as the markets get a boost from government data that showed new orders for manufactured goods rose more than expected. Shares of AAPL are up modestly as the markets try to recover. Catalysts include the next iPhone launch this fall; the iPad 3 in the spring of 2012; continued adoption in China and other emerging markets; iCloud / iOS 5 rollout and adoption; the continued evolution and next generation of Apple TV; and new platforms such as books / publishing and social (Ping). Shares of Apple trade at 9.3x Enterprise Value / Trailing Twelve Months Free Cash Flow (including long-term marketable securities).Is Music Streaming On The Horizon For iTunes? (iPodNN)
iTunes users can, for the first time, stream an entire album through the iTunes Store. The stream is a preview of the Red Hot chilli Peppers’ new album. Apple has be making been gradual pushes in terms of streaming, most likely linked to its purchase of music service Lala in 2009. rumours have suggested that Apple’s long-term goal is to enable streaming of anything a person has bought through iTunes, and/or to enable subscriptions to compete with Spotify and Pandora.

Apple Can’t Dominate The Tablet Market Forever, Says Lenovo (All Things Digital)
Last week, Apple overtook Lenovo in revenue in greater China for the first time in about a decade. CEO Yang Yuanqing seems to be having a difficult time accepting the news. He says, “their calculation includes the phone business but Lenovo’s main focus is in PCs.” Yuanqing isn’t afraid of Apple or its popular iPad tablet either. Although he should be. One HSBC analyst recently said that Lenovo would have to boost its sales by $1 billion to be on a par with Apple’s revenue in China.

…And It Would Add 6 Million iPhone Units, Or Another $0.87 To EPS (Barron’s)
Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster believes that a Sprint deal could add 6 million units to his calendar 2012 iPhone estimate. He bases that on data from Verizon Communications, which sold 4.6 million units (or 11% of all the phones Verizon sold) of the iPhone 4 during the first two quarters it carried the device this year. If that scenario were to play out, it would boost iPhone sales growth from 30% in calendar 2012 to 37%, and would boost the calendar-year EPS to $34.59 per share from $33.72.

Here Come The Cheaper iPhones (Reuters)Apple suppliers are building a cheaper, 8GB iPhone 4, which makes a ton of sense. As the iPhone 5 comes out, the iPhone 4 is going to get cheaper anyway and by now most of the capital costs of building the iPhone 4 are almost certainly covered so Apple can go for volume and cost. Most crucially though, there is a huge market for lower-priced smartphone in emerging countries that Apple hasn’t tapped.

What Do iPad Users Do Anyway? (Localytics)
According to a study by Localytics, iPad users spend two and a half times longer engaging in news apps than on apps in general. The runner-up for engaging apps is music-related, followed by health and fitness. Should we then assume that the majority of iPad users are intellectually stimulating (boring), culturally aware (antisocial) and very fit (narcissistic)? Interestingly, game apps scored low on the engagement scale, however came in first place for frequency of use.

Daily Trader: Intel Worried That Apple Will Switch To ARM (Various via iDygest)
A couple months ago, news reports emerged that Apple was going to switch from Intel to ARM processors for its notebook computers, even potentially be acquired. The rumour mill fired up again with talk of Oracle or Intel potentially in the mix to buy ARM at a hefty premium. And Intel isn’t dismissing the rumours. There could very well be a day when all Apple products run on the same series of chips and that series will most likely be exclusively made by Apple.

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